Serie A Round 37 Preview: Penultimate permutations

Published on: 17 May 2019

The penultimate weekend of the season will see one or two sides jostling for a sprint finish at both ends of the table. We begin our preview of the action with an interesting clash down at the wrong end of the table.

Hosts Udinese are unbeaten in their last seven Serie A home matches (W4 D3) – the last time they went eight in a row was back in October 2014.

Surprise-package SPAL have won their last two away games: they have never won three in a row in the Italian top-flight.

Genoa have won each of their last three home games against Cagliari and could win four in a row for the first time ever. The last draw between these two sides at the Ferraris was back in April 1995.

Opponents Cagliari are on a mini-slump and have lost their last three league games and could lose four in a row for the first time since October 2017 (five on that occasion).

Little-to-play-for Sassuolo have never kept a clean sheet in their 11 top-flight matches against AS Roma (23 goals conceded in total).

The visitors form the capital may look to in-form Bryan Cristante who has had a hand in three goals in his last four meetings against Sassuolo: two goals, one assist.

Already-relegated Chievo have won two league games so far this season: the fewest a side has ever recorded in a 20-team Serie A campaign is three wins (Treviso 2005/06 and Pescara 2016/17).

Visiting Sampdoria are a on a fairly poor streak and have conceded at least once in each of their last 14 top-flight away games, their longest run since 2016 – they have shipped 2+ goals in 12 of these matches.

Battling Empoli have won six of their 17 league meetings against Torino (D8 L3) – however, they are winless in the last three (D2 L1).

Their opposition are unbeaten in their last seven league away matches, drawing five of them: they have conceded only three goals in the process.

One of the stand-out fixtures takes us to Turin where champions Juventus have won each of their last eight Serie A home games against Atalanta, their longest home winning run against the Nerazzurri.

Visiting Atalanta have stamina on their side and have scored 64% of their goals in the league this season in the second half of matches; a record in percentage in the competition in 2018-19 (47/73).

Parma are unbeaten in the last six home games against Fiorentina – however, the Gialloblu have won only once (1-0 in January 2015 – D5).

Free-falling Fiorentina have picked up only one point in their last five away league games (D1 L4), having remained unbeaten in the nine before this run (15 points).

AC Milan playmaker Suso scored his only Serie A hat-trick against Frosinone, in his only match against them in April 2016, with Genoa.

Frosinone’s Federico Dionisi (first goal in the league this season in the last match against Udinese), has found the net in each of his two games played against AC Milan in the top-flight.

The most intriguing game of the weekend takes us to Naples where hosts Napoli have lost 64 of their last 145 matches against Inter in Serie A (W45 D36), only against Juventus have they lost more league games (68).

No team has conceded fewer goals than Inter during the last 15 minutes of matches (5); while Napoli have scored the most goals in the same time period in Serie A in 2018-19 (21). Will these statistics be relevant this weekend?

Our final game takes us to the blue side of the capital where Lazio have only lost one of their last 17 Serie A home games against Bologna (W11 D5), a 1-3 defeat in March 2012.

Bologna’s Riccardo Orsolini will be the focal point of the visiting attack considering he has been directly involved in four goals in his last four league games (three goals, one assist), as many as he had in his previous 10.

Source: forzaitalianfootball.com

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